Barcelona have reportedly made a €75m offer for Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt in a bid to pip Juventus to the signing of the Dutch starlet.
The 19-year-old enjoyed a stellar campaign last year as he led Ajax to a domestic double while enjoying a run to the Champions League semi-finals too.
As noted by Sport, the expectation was that the commanding centre-half was set for a move Turin to join the reigning Serie A champions ahead of next season, but their offer totalling €65m is seemingly falling short of Ajax’s demands.
With that in mind, Calciomercato now report, via Marca, that while Juve also have an agreement on personal terms with De Ligt, Barcelona could now hijack that move by meeting his valuation and bidding €75m to acquire him this summer.
Time will tell if that’s enough to satisfy all concerned as the Catalan giants have been linked with a move for months and had seemingly lost out to Juventus.
Now though, the latest report would suggest that they haven’t given up hope yet and believe that they can still add De Ligt to the squad this summer to reunite him with his former Ajax teammate, Frenkie de Jong.
It promises to be an expensive summer for the reigning La Liga champions if they are able to pull off the move for De Ligt, as BBC Sport note that they’ve already splashed out €75m to prise De Jong to the Nou Camp.
In turn, that would suggest that the Dutch pair could have a major future for the club if they both agree moves, as they certainly fit the mould of what Barcelona are looking for with their technical quality and tactical brains to suit the system and style of play at the club.
